Arkham Horror: Custom Heralds and The Betrayer

I had an interesting idea, inspired mostly from the “traitor” concept in Betrayal at House on the Hill. What if there were a special Herald that would enable one player to turn against the others, and spawn new gates or monsters based on meeting certain requirements? As a herald, it would also be totally voluntary.

First things first, the game would have to have a much clearer, and more definite goal, not the vague … vagueness of its current victory conditions (as previously discussed). It might even be interesting to have the game’s Ancient One remain a secret until halfway through the end of the game, though this necessitates certain changes.

There is a clear and present enemy in Arkham Horror, who comes before even the Ancient One, and that is the cultists, whomever they may be. They might well be the Cult of One Thousand, but when you have a number of Ancient Ones to choose from, this isn’t always the case. After the cultists, you have the Herald, and Arkham itself.

I had an idea this morning, while pondering the mechanics for The Ascalon Horror, about limiting the refocusing of skills to Stable locations, where a character would have the time to catch their breath — this idea based on Guild Wars’s own re-speccing limitations. (You can change whatever you like, short of profession, but only in town.)

Implementing a system like the Omen cards in Betrayal at House on the Hill could certainly lend … something to Arkham Horror, a certain horrible something. I mean, there are tons of recurring elements in the Cthulhu Mythos, there should be plenty to draw from — eldritch tomes, strange letters, exotic statues, all sorts of things.

If I were to create some omens, I would probably draw ideas from the Exhibit item deck, then from the Unique item deck. The Elder Sign could easily be an Omen in the deck, before anything else. It could have a position of reverence in the game closer to the eponymous talismans from Talisman. It would lend them a degree of mystique.